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Trayless Dining

All four of ISU Dining's residential dining centers are trayless. This student-supported decision was made to help decrease food waste. Both pre and post consumer food waste is sent to the compost facility as well as compostable disposables in each location.

Students helped measure food waste and compare locations' output. Before going trayless at Union Drive Marketplace in 2009, a comparison between UDM and Seasons (trayless) showed that the amount of food waste per guest in UDM was approximately 0.36 pounds and Seasons was 0.22 pounds. The measurement was a good guage at the time to help make the decision to convert Union Drive Marketplace to a trayless facility.